About last night …

How’s this for irony?
On the day Jaroslav Halak was traded for the third time this season, Carey Price made 48 saves to beat the Bruins.
Price turned in the best playoff performance by a Canadiens goaltender since Halak stoned Washington and Pittsburgh.
That was in 2010.
A lot has happened since.
Halak has bounced from St. Louis to Buffalo to Washington to the Islanders.
And Price has pushed his record, in the Olympic Games and the 2014 playoffs, to 10-0.

Getting number 11, on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden, might be problematic if Price’s teammates don’t play better.

In his postgame press conference, Michel Therrien stressed what he saw as the Canadiens’ positives in their 4-3 overtime conquest of the Bruins:

• Price’s extraordinary performance

• a power-play that produced two goals

• the “very productive game” of P.K. Subban, who scored both PP goals, including the OT winner.

• Lars Eller and Rene Bourque, both of whom the coach praised for their forechecking tenacity and ability to protect the puck.

• a reconstituted fourth line of Brandon Prust, Dale Weise and Travis Moen drew the OT penalty on Matt Bartkowski that opened the way for P.K.’s winner.

It’s a short list. Therrien could have added the defensive pairing of Francis Bouillon and Mike Weaver, the game-saving defensive play of Brendan Gallagher and the courage of david Desharnais, who spent the game crashing into and bouncing off of Zdeno Chara.

The Eller-Bourque-Brian Gionta continued the fine play that began in the Tampa Bay series. They were the Canadiens’ best line – by a lot.

Another positive: The Canadiens played with discipline, taking just three minor penalties. And they killed off two shorthanded situations against a Boston power play that was deadly against Detroit.

Therrien acknowledged, however, that the Canadiens had played “like a team that hadn’t played in 10 days.”

Maybe it took 80 minutes to shake the rust off. After being dominated for long stretches of the game, the Canadiens outshot Boston 4-1 in the first four minutes of the second OT period, leading up to P.K.’s game-winner.

But the full-game possession stats told a grim story:

In addition to the 51 shots they had on Price, the Bruins missed the net 17 times. The Canadiens blocked 30 shots. That adds up to 98 shot attempts for the rampaging home team.

The Canadiens had 33 shots on Tuukka Rask, whose save percentage was .879, to Price’s .941. The Canadiens had 11 misses, and Boston blocked 14 shots. The total attempts: 58.

98-58? That’s the final score when the harlem Globetrotters play the Washington Generals.

The Bruins hit the goalpost twice. A puck behind Price miraculously glided along the line and stayed out.

The Bruins had innumerable excellent looks at goal from uncontested slot positions. They skated freely through the neutral zone and exerted long periods of pressure against feeble backchecking in the Canadiens’ zone.

Boston won 58 per cent of faceoffs (51-37) and outhit the Canadiens 56-45. They Bruins effectively bottled up the Canadiens’ (theoretically) top line to the extent that Thomas Vanek was bumped down to the fourth line – a demotion Therrien would not discuss during his postgame remarks. Max Pacioretty was also invisible for most of the game.

The Andrei Markov-Alexei Emelin pairing struggled against the Bruins aggressive forecheck. They were better, however, in OT.

The Canadiens, as a team, will have to better on Saturday.

But they’ve retaken home-ice advantage.

And Price is looking positively Halakian.

• Interesting stat from my man Mike Ziegler: Daniel Brière has assisted on both of the OT goals the Canadiens have scored in these playoffs.

541 Comments

Repost from earlier, with an added clarification – this was written in response to the news that, following PKs overtime goal last night, the volume of racist Tweets from Bruins fans was so great that the N-word was trending in Boston last night:

Are we going to learn something about our game here? What’s the difference between the NBA and its fans and the NHL and its fans?

An NBA owner expresses racist sentiments and his fans and players (essentially) drive him out of the league. An NHL team’s fans erupt with racist sentiments against an opposing player and…?

Never mind that Subban’s brother is in the Bruins’ system. That organization has a chance and a moral imperative to show its colours in a way that reflects on ALL hockey fans.

Invisible. Skating slowly, like he had the flu. He was moved off of the top line almost immediately, after his third shift and most disturbing of all, he was the last to rise to his feet when PK scored the winning goal, as if his mind was somewhere else. Not engaged. Frankly, it’s unacceptable for someone who is supposed to be an elite player.

People are speculating that he is sick, or disinterested and playing not to get hurt. Who knows, but some have also called MT a lier because he said Vanek wasn’t injured after being asked about his play. Hmmm…

Eller is a great player. I think it is safe to say he is one of those players that really needs confidence in order to perform. Because of his fairly poor season he had this year…I think it will benefit the team as he should be able to be signed for cheaper then he might have been otherwise.

Even if he keeps playing this way throughout the playoffs, I’m hopeful that they won’t have to break the bank on him. He is also an RFA.

“I think I may have found a way for us to get Griffey and Bonds, and we really won’t have to give up much” -Costanza

Perhaps the most important thing we accomplished last night was to implant a sense of doubt in the head of Tuukka Rask – or rather, strengthen the doubt that must already be there. Rask was lights out against the Wings, but his history against the Habs is less than illustrious. If we can get to him early in Game two and jolt his confidence a bit more, it would give us a huge advantage in a series in which we are likely to be out-played more often than not.

Maybe there was a bit of karma involved in last night’s victory. In the series three years ago, we were the better team much of the time, but we couldn’t find a way to win in OT. Price must still have a too-vivid memory of those three OT losses, so last night will have been doubly satisfying for him. His record in playoff OT games is now 3-3. It’s looking as though his time has finally come.

If you go to a Habs vs Bruins game in Boston… Those fans are the most unsportsmanlike people in the entire world. I have attended many Soccer games in “Dangerous” parts in the world supporting the other team and they have more respect than Boston fans. Same thing happened when I attended a Boston College football game vs Syracuse. Us Syracuse fans got treated like dirt. Moral of the story is I hope we beat this goon team and there goon fans!!!

Mostly blue collar testosterone, usually when you stand up to it,, it will back down,, cowards and criminals mostly prey on situations where they feel in control or they can control the outcome with numbers,,

Hard to second guess Mike with his player selection, but I kept thinking last night that Crankshaft would have helped control some of the chaos in front of Carey last night. But who do you sit? Weaver was moving the puck well and Cube got a goal.

That was definitely my thinking going into this series, but as you say, hard to second guess when they keep winning. I don’t think traffic and scrums were as much a problem last night as the inability of the Habs forwards to get and keep the puck in the Bruins zone. Unless they completely break down or crowd control becomes a major concern, I doubt Murray slots in.

Can’t fix stupid and there is lots of stupid out there. That is the one thing I don’t like about social media or internet comments sections, people are not held accountable for what they post. I have seen some pretty appalling things online and it isn’t right. Anything you post should be linked directly to you.

I hate the way these parties have rigged the game. I really hate all the gerrymandering going on. You’d think we lived in the States or something.
The problem is voting patterns and breaking lifelong habits. Vote for the best person who can effect local changes for the better. All the rest is bull spit.

Was just thinking of Gallagher’s, saving our bacon when Reilly was about to tap in that puck,,, Really hope Gallagher’s groin and or knee has not tightened up much this morning after taking that knee from Paille.

Driving to an appointment this morning & listening to sports-radio from Detroit, I was shocked to hear their leading story about the racial slurs directed at PK Subban on twitter from Boston fans. Needless to say, the guys doing the show were appalled & disgusted with such behavior like all of us are & one of them went on to rip Boston fans in general as being that type.
I hope this will give our team that extra motivation for tomorrow’s game just like Cooper’s comment about the Habs blowing 2-0 series leads. Want to see how Don Cherry will react, if he does, to this garbage coming out of Boston. I think those fans forgot that Jerome Iginla is African-American as well.

Cherry is a pig and who cares what he says. The Boston media of course, has ignored the fact that the majority of Boston fans ae indeed this ignorant type. I had my tires slashed at a game once when I had a Habs clad sock monkey hanging from my rear view mirror. You don’t see many Canadiens jerseys in the crowd either, because the angry, fight inducing crowds in the Gahden will often throw beer at you, trip you or worse. Goons unfortunately just like their team. They can’t even realize that their French Canadians are playing and coaching some French Canadians on our team. Brain dead and racist. Remember, this is a town that erupted in the 60’s with the bussing issue and still has some of the worst racial separations in the US. I lived in Boston for three years and have experienced it first hand. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from a thick accented Boston cop who responded to a direction question when I was lost in the downtown area. I asked why there weren’t any street signs, his response; “If you don’t like it, leave!” Nice!

Bruins fans that I know & work with display the same attitudes as those arrogant fans did to Subban. I’ve often called them racists & my boss is one of them. Too bad because at the end of the day, win or lose, it’s just a damn game.

As much as I like Cherry’s assessment of actual hockey plays, he is a hypocrite. After absolutely lambasting Matt Cooke (and deservedly so) for his knee on Barrie, he basically said that Paille’s knee on Gallagher was him just getting caught flat footed. I won’t say that is totally off-base, but Paille took a run at someone and then stuck his knee out when he knew he was going to miss. Not much different than what Cooke did.

As for PK, I’m sure he’s dealt with racism his entire life. Hockey is about as white a sport as they come, and anytime you’re a minority there is the potential for “othering” by the majority around you. And that applies across the board by the way. Racism knows no boundaries, and is not exclusive to any group, culture or locale.

There’s a story in the Boston Globe by Fluto Shinzawa entitled “Bruins in good shape despite Game 1 loss”. Excerpts from his story:

“Repetitive punches to the head eventually lead to a knockout blow. The more the Bruins play like they did in Game 1, the more swings they’ll take at on-the-ropes Canadiens. No team can absorb so many haymakers and stay upright three more times.”

“The Canadiens will have to make major changes before Saturday’s Game 2. They have to address their fear of handling the puck. They’ve got to get it onto their best players’ sticks. They must relieve some of the heat off their goalie. Price can’t possibly be as unconscious in Game 2 as he was on Thursday. Rask, meanwhile, shouldn’t be as leaky. The Bruins will continue to roll. The Bruins are stubborn. They keep digging and grinding and hammering until the wall they face, even one named Price, starts to crumble. At this rate, that will happen soon enough.”

— Shinzawa is pretty smug about his Bruins. His assertion that the Bruins are in “good shape despite the Game 1 loss” sounds to me like denial. Having taken the all-important Game 1, Habs will be 100% better on Saturday. I think the Bruins are in big trouble.

I know the team won but i am still concerned that how can you get only one pp chance in 3 periods of hockey where the opposition is brutal…So the Bruins can take it to another level and get 2 penalties…If their style of play continues there will be season ending injuries on the Habs….

Congrats to you mister Ian for predicting yesterday that Eller would be the man to watch cause he was ! For me, considering that it happened at such an important time of the season, this just might have been his most impressive game as a Hab.

True Ian.
In this vein, what do you reckon MT saw in Vanek that we didn’t?
Personally, I saw him playing very very lethargic in the first 20 minutes and was seeking a spark. Was he trying to give him a SPARK or a LESSON?
Or both?
King’s to you, Count of Mont(real) Cristo.
Matthew-

Marinaro on air live fighting with Boston media quite entertaining radio,, i cant believe i am listening to Marinaro for more than 15 minutes..Sports argumentative banter can be so funny and witty, if your up to it,, Marinaro did an ok job,,

At my interview for a residency position at the Brigham Hospital in Boston, one of the other candidates was an African-American from Atlanta. We were chatting in the waiting room and he said he probably wouldn’t rank Harvard very high anyway (it’s a match system) because Boston is the most racist town in America.

I was surprised because as a Canadian I had assumed there was more racism in the deep south than in “liberal” Massachusetts. But he said actually it’s the opposite.

The thing about Boston is that there is a very strong town/gown dichotomy. There are Harvard and MIT profs etc …, and then there are some of the nastiest bigots in America. The former are mostly baseball fans. The latter support the Bruins.

Has to do with the old Irish immigrant communities, mostly.
Not to say that the Irish are racists, but those Irish communities are pretty closed-off, and have hung on to old ideas long after the rest of the world has moved on.
Many Italian communities are similar.

The troubling reality is that at the same time that they are boooooing P.K. and behaving like socially retarded americans towards racial differences, they drafted his brother ! He is in for a very different ride than P.K. is in MTL.

I think there needs to be seperation recognized from the Bruins, Chiarelli etc. and the fans which others are speaking about. I don’t think anyone in their right mind is accusing the Bruins Team Organization of being racist.

Just re-read your post and you are recognizing the difference. Sorry about that.

Yah, I am assuming PK’s father Karl was at the game last night with Malcolm as the story from Brenda Braswell suggests. If so, I wonder if they heard any of this fan ugliness. It must be somewhat difficult for Malcolm to be part of the Bruins and hear fans treat his brother in such a way. The booing part to me is no big deal, we do it to Chara, many teams fans do this to the opposing best players. But the ugly racial comments are indeed beyond disturbing.

Hola amigos! It was “The Carey and PK “show last night!
Rask for Vezina? Chara for Norris? Are you kidding? Still a Bergeron fan after he tried to take out Borks knee? And how about Paille lining up Gally”s knee? Like I said yesterday about the Bruins. Srew em all! It’s a frikin war! Habs in 6. Saludos!

Not quite the same amigo imo. Bergeron had no stick, and went low below his hip at the last second. It was lucky Bork didn’t blow out his knee. The Paille hit was direct line up for knee on knee,similar to what that puke Cooke did.

I remember reading when the Habs obtained Vanek that he is the type of player that will frustrate you for stretches but when he goes on a streak he is very good…I think we saw this with Vanek even with the Habs this year…He is capable out of no where to score 2-3 goals in a game…

TSN desk reports he was not playing hurt.
It took him a while to get traction after the trade deadline, altho that might be attributed to the myriad line combinations he / we saw until finding a ‘ home ‘ with DD and MaxPac.

I take the view that, even if / when that line is not scoring, they are into the opposing coach’s head – big time – and there is value in that. I also think there is high value in him getting a look at the team and vice-versa before any potential contract talks commence.

When all is said and done, Vanek is an elite talent, but he is not the only elite talent out there at the $$ he will command, and I’m sure MB is well aware of this every time he does a dance, errr, evaluates the players he currently has under contract.

My take is that MB will ensure this situation works out in the team’s best interest, all in due course …

I hope last nights performance was streak related and not injured. But he did appear slower than usual last night. The fact we could have so many players have off nights and pull out a win is very encouraging I think.

Based on the way the Bruins played in the first 3 periods there is no way that they should have received only one penalty vs the Habs 2…How can you get only one penalty when you play a rampaging barbarian type game…the 2 penalties in o/t at least were hockey type plays that deserved a penalty…

Exactly! I’ve seen that for years. The team running around for hits, isn’t in pic possession and often put themselves out of position. Let them try to run at us, we’ll steal the pic and put it in the back of the net with a burst of speed like Bourque and Eller did last night. Just hope we don’t get hurt. Could have happened a few times last night.

Watching Prust and Vanek play last night and I have to think that either they are injured, still hurting or simply not engaged in the play. Prust was shying away from the physical play and Vanek looked like he would much rather be somewhere else, doing something else. MT said he’s not injured so if not an injury, then what?

Great point/question. I’d never question’s Prust’s heart/desire so he must be injured (seems he always is these days and may never be the player he was 1-3 years ago). Some are speculating that Vanek is playing not to get hurt, wonderful, the downside of bringing on a rental player more interested in $ than sacrificing to win the Cup.

I get the same kind of crap at work, love wearing my PK t-shirt.
“I like the Habs but I hate Subban”
“I’d cheer for the Habs in the playoffs but won’t because of Subban”
“Subban is a dirty player”
“Subban gets away with murder on the ice”
blah blah blah….suck it!

Wow what a huge win. I was so nervous that I turned away a few times when the Poo Bears we in our end pressing for the winner. The goaltending from us was unreal Last night. T. Vanek did not look right all night long.GO HABS GO.

The Bruins played so much better than the Habs last night. It was almost embarrassing and hard to watch (except for Price, Subban and a few others). The clearly better team lost. I’ll gladly take the win but those waving pom-poms this morning are delusional.

Bottom line, a W is a W and we are up 1 – 0 in the series. Agree we were outplayed for long stretches but it doesn’t matter on the score card. How many times have we completely outplayed team only to come up short? I’ll take the W and smile, thank you very much

Woke up with a smirk on my face due to Habs theft,, and this Don Cherry beauty from last night,, Carey Price proved he is one of the best Goalies in the world when he helped Team Canada win the Gold Cup,

What a fool.
He didn’t even specify whether it was the CONCACAF Soccer or Australian Horse-racing trophy that he was talking about…
Have to assume it was the horse thing, what with Carey’s cowboy side, and all.

Funny. Julien was funny last night too at the after game. Someone asked him about the two penalties his team took late in the game. You could anticipate columns for a week on the expected answer. Instead Julien just said they were deserved. How to ruin the half written column 🙂 Teach them to stick around for a presser.

LMFAO HOLY CRAP Tony Marinaro is going crazy live on the air, I dont like Tony much but, he just had the best intro 15 minutes ever,,Great Radio props is due to Marinaro for that intro, hilarious stuff..

Great win…. Still undefeated this season when leading after 2 periods….. Bruins never had a lead last night.

MT has been doing a good job so far and I have been critical of him this year because of the lack of progress of certain players. We know who they are. That said, I feel he almost blew the game last night by sitting Bournival. Who would have guessed the impact that changing one player would have? However, in the playoffs a team needs 4 lines that can spend time in the o-zone. The ripple effect of that is tremendous and we saw it in the Tampa series. Bournival is key on the 4th line and needs to play.

Another clear storyline 2 PP goals without the Pacioretty unit. They never looked dominant to me even when scoring and I knew there style would be troublesome in the playoffs, I’ve never seena top line perform well with the style they play.

Don’t wanna be a hater I love everyone on this team and I do want Vanek back but those guys need to get grinded the way PK get’s it for every mistake or just take away there PP time cuz I know Eller Gionta Bourque can do better.

I remember Vanek said that him, DD and Pacioretty had lots and lots of conversations in order to get thigns going in regular season. Perhaps, they should have one big discussion today… in front of a mirror.

Price was better than Rask, but the Bruins overall were better than the Habs.
Good thing they pulled the win out anyways.
Prust looked much better than in the Tampa series.
Desharnais was the most engaged of his line, untill Weisse subbed in for Vanek.

Is it possible the short rest between games 1 and 2 now favour the Habs? I think it may….. also will the crowd be as amped up at 12:30pm? Will Renee Rancourt still be hungover from his Friday night lounge act?

Thank you Pricer…..the boys must tighten up tomorrow, can’t give the cubs that many good looks. Disagree with Iginla that they “dominated the game”. How was the puke Edwards last night after the cubs loss?

He never got a chance with MTL they finally have him the Gallys last yr and he was our best center. Starts the yr as our best center again but they take Gallagher away so Desharnais and Pacioretty can be the stars.

What he’s done despite the circumstances is incredible, he’s a leader. I’m not sure Pacioretty and Desharnais have those qualities, I really want to see it. But I know who’s better.

Last year he got knocked out by Gryba is what I was referring to actually. He was playing well going into the playoffs and then Gryba caught him with the hit.

He was on fire at the start of this year and he really tailed of during the season. he looked like he lost his confidence and really wasn’t making great plays. He looks like his has found his confidence again. If he (and Bourque) could keep up their play like this all season they would be a great line combo permanently.

DD and Max played well in the first round as well but didn’t have a strong first game in the second series. I am sure they will be rolling soon. We need 4 lines rolling to win this series

I fail to see your connection. Sterling was an idiot long before this latest incident and the NBA did nothing. Not to speak of his showing up at Clipper games with his girlfriend when he is married. Anyway, why attribute the booing to racism? Did Montreal fans boo Chara every time he touched the puck because they are racists who hate Slovaks? Maybe they’re booing PK because he’s a great player and great players get booed by fearful fans? Just a thought.

What has blown my mind is how this team has flicked the switch in the playoffs to beast mode. Loving the line up and how everyone is playing with guts! Well except for Vanek who must be hurt or something.

Surprised that he didn’t get one on that slash at the side of the net after play had been stopped. Marchand even looked at the referee after he had done it and looked surprised that he didn’t get 2 minutes.

After watching a full swing, two handed chop Marchand delivered during the Wings game right in front of the ref, I gave up hoping the refs would call fairly against Boston. Fairly well called game last night, much better than I expected

We won because of Price. He cannot do this every game. Too much time in our own end. Only one line tipped the rink the other way (Eller, Bourque and Gionta). Need Bournival back on a line with Brier and ,,,,,, Tremendous two way skater and an intense fore checker. This would see more time spent in the Bruins end an area I see weakness in their game. We are not big enough to allow this much time in our end with the Bruins strong fore check.

Pretty entertaining game, though I’m paying for the late night a bit this morning.

I thought MTL did a great job in the 1st period, but only some absolutely incredible saves by Price stopped this one from going Boston’s way. Just an incredible performance by him, and exactly the type of goaltending you need if you want to make a run at the Cup. Can’t say enough about Price, so I’ll stop there.

As expected, the defence struggled to contain the Lucic-Iginla-Krejci line. Emelin seems to be lacking some power in his hits, and I have to think Lucic is in his head a bit. They conceded the blueline on a number of Boston rushes, and that line was able to cut across and find trailers almost at will. I thought the MTL defence did a decent job moving the puck once they retrieved it, but if they’re gonna back off when the Bruins are rushing, MTL’s forwards will have to come back hard and take some bodies. Subban ran around and made a few selfish plays, but he easily their best skater last night so its hard to be too critical. And his stare-down of the entire Boston Gah-den after the OT winner was awesome.

The forwards were not that great. The Bourque-Eller-Gionta line was far and away the best IMO. Anyone who has questioned whether Eller has the potential to be > than Desharnais only has to compare their performance through 5 playoff games to see it (though Therrien still managed to single out DD – along with Subban and Price – as the team’s young “leaders” in the post-game presser).

Weise and Moen played well, but I thought Prust looked slow and awkward, and lacked a little intensity. Plekanec was okay, though he threw the puck away a few times when pressured physically. Pacioretty seemed a bit tentative, DD and Briere were all but invisible from my perspective, and Vanek rarely touched the puck – which is a problem. I think Therrien jumped the gun by splitting that line up so early. I’m all for making players accountable for their play, but jerking with your most skilled forward so early in the series (and potentially sapping his confidence) seems strange. You’ve got to get the players going, but wholesale line-juggling at this stage of the season could make for some disjointed offense.

Anyway, 1-0 for the good guys and a great opportunity to get right back at them on Saturday. The viewing is a bit early for my liking, but I do enjoy the idea of some afternoon pops so won’t complain.

Best thing to have happen last night for the series to tilt our way. We scored twice on the power play.
This will taper Boston’s rough style to some extent, allowing us to skate and make more plays in the next games..

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to sleep last night. As it turns out, I only got a few hours, but I rose, rested and ready for Saturday afternoon. These two weeks will be a grind. I agree with Mr. Boone’s assessment and feel that the best is still ahead. We will not be able to sustain our success through this series if some of our passengers don’t vastly improve their play. Notably Vanek needs to be much, much better.

Going into the series, many, myself included, spoke of special teams and goaltending. Both were brilliant last night. This will need to continue. To win, I estimated that Price will need a save percentage north of .930. Again, I believe this will continue to ring true. Boston, so much as I love to hate them, have an excellent team. It would appear that there is a weakness in goal. More specifically, there appears to be a weakness between Rask’s ears. He seemed rattled and looked shaky. Our success will hinge on continuing to apply presure to their defence, extend play in the offensive zone and get pucks to the net.

In our end it’s pretty simply – give Price the lane and let him see the puck. He is at his absolute best when he is tested early and gets into the game.

I am extremely satisfied with the outcome of the first game, however we have been down this road before. We need to continue to improve and force the Bruins into uncomfortable situations, applied by our speed and skill. The Bruins can spin this anyway they want, but I am sure there are some guys who are looking to the Heaven’s this morning wondering what just happened. This glance could turn to finger pointing if we can somehow win the second game before returning to Montreal. As it now stands, if we defend our home ice, we will win this series.

The pressure resides squarely on the shoulders of the boys from the North End. This series has all the markings of a six or seven game war. We have fired the first volley. It will be interesting to see how both teams respond.

Lastly, I couldn’t be happier for Lars Eller. I am a firm believer in the crest on the chest carrying more weight than the name plate on the back, but I am so excited for the kid. He is wheeling and dealing and making smart, controlled plays along the way. With points last night, Bouillion and Markov join all other skaters on the scoreboard. With the exception of Moen, everyone has contributed to the scoresheet. Travis played a great game last night, and the fourth line was every bit their counterparts’ equal. I don’t get too high, or too low following a win or loss, but boy it was nice to get that first one……

Habs definitely need a better forecheck from lines other than Bourque-Eller-Gionta, who were pretty much the only group that were able to put pressure on Boston and turn some pucks over in the offensive zone. Weise was pretty effective and (I think) was the one who drew both goal-resulting PPs. Finding him some more opportunities to run into Chara et al. is a good strategy by Therrien. Who he skates with is the trick. Maybe Moen-Plekanec-Weise would make a good, tenacious line?

It’ll be interesting to see how Vanek plays (or not) in the next game. It will be hard for MTL to win this series if they don’t get some even strength goals from him and Pacioretty. The latter especially needs to get his intensity ramped up. Big-time players perform in big-time games.

I’m totally with you on Eller as well. He looks physically impressive right now, and is one of the few Habs who seems to actually be able to completely separate Bruin d-men from the puck, and then give them fits down low. He is really playing well after what must have been a very trying regular season.

Taking Game 1 win was huge, and they have room to play better. Which means that 3 more wins are entirely possible….

For all that could be said about MT (who gets high marks in my books) is it possible he is a flat out liar?

I say that in playoff gamesmanship admiration, because if Thomas Vanek was not injured on the first shifts of the game, I am Timo.

He didn’t play like he was disinterested … he played like he was on quualudes … He could barely move and started mostly in the offensive zone, as soon as the puck was gone, off he went.

No sound person plays as lethargically as Vanek in a playoff game against Boston, a team he loves to play, on the biggest hockey stage, when he is gunning for his last eyeball popping contract.

Something had to be wrong. On CBC, Jim Hughson channeled his inner Jack Edwards when he yelled that Vanek looks like he can’t even skate.

If he can’t go at 100 percent heart and body, he should be in the pressbox until he is ready to go. Move up Briere (the original line up plan in pre-season until he got concussed) and put Bournival on the 4th line.

This is what I was thinking too. Vanek didn’t look disinterested. He looked like he was hurting. He wouldn’t really physically engage – and his skating was very upright.

Lowest TOI outside of Briere, Weiss, and Moen. I would be shocked if it turned out to be some issue of benching him. Especially since he was moved off of the top line so quickly. You don’t break up your top line (the one who carried you through the final 10+ games of the season) unless there is something wrong. Even if it was a smaller injury – you’ve got to try to get him away from Chara.

I actually wondered this as well. I cannot see him playing so poorly if he was uninjured. He saw almost 20 minutes of ice though, so it was hard to tell whether he was physically lame, or just not able to get into a groove….

-Lots of defensive breakdowns. Bruins had a trailer WIDE open all night

-I fully expect the Habs to adjust defensively in game 2 after some video review sessions today

-That was NOT a knee on knee on Gallagher last night

-How about Therrien calling Subban a leader, and how about Subban’s game in general? He’s been full value since the start of the playoffs

-Briere had a couple ugly turnovers last night, but he assisted on the GWG so all is forgiven

-Last, but certainly not least, Price looks like a goalie who’s ready to carry his team deep into the playoffs

At the end of the day, I think you could blame some of the defensive breakdowns and turnovers on being a bit rusty, but they’ll have to be much better the rest of the series if they want to win this thing. I fully expect the coaching staff and the players to tighten things up going forward.

Keep same line-up and no Murray.
Hope Habs bring there A/B game cause the bruins are going to be an angry bunch. You know the intensity will be amped up as they cant go down 2 games heading back to Montreal.
Some players looked really rusty..Patches, Vanek, Prust, Briere etc. I hope they pick it up.
Keep drinking those protein shakes Bork.